Embodiments relate to an image processing device and method which can reduce the feeling of strangeness due to a discontinuity in image brightness in a frame which is caused by the camera flash of a person other than the person who is taking the moving image.
In recent years, imaging devices such as video cameras often employ CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) sensors. Reading of imaging signals by the CMOS sensors is performed by the rolling shutter method performing reset, exposure, and reading of the pixels not all at one time but sequentially, line-by-line. In this method, the reading timing is sequentially shifted in the line direction.
At a wedding ceremony or the like, for example, many video cameras and still cameras take images of the same subject at the same time. In such a case, short bursts of strong light from the flash of other cameras are sometimes incident on the CMOS sensors during exposure of only a partial number of lines in a frame.
Accordingly, the amount of exposure is not consistent, thus producing a bright area (like a white band) in the frame which causes a discontinuous image. The problem is caused not only by light from camera flashes but also in the case where strong light similar to that of a flash is incident on CMOS sensors for a short period.
There are propositions of various types of solutions for this problem as described in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publications Nos. 2010-213220, 2011-15222, and 2011-101208, for example.